Schalke mourn loss of Rolf Rüssmann
03.10.2009
The Royal Blues are in mourning for one of the club's greatest players. Rolf Rüssmann, a mainstay of the Schalke defence from 1969 to 1980, passed away on Friday aged 58. Rüssmann, who played 20 times for his country, had been fighting a lengthy battle against cancer.
"Everyone at Schalke is devastated. Rolf Rüssmann was not only an exceptional footballer, he was also a very popular figure off the pitch due to his friendly and open manner. Both the club and I have lost a friend", said a shellshocked Schalke chairman Josef Schnusenberg. "Our deepest sympathy goes out to his wife Eva, his daughters Nina and Laura, and his entire family."
The Germany youth international joined the Royal Blues from FC Schwelm 06 in 1969. Thanks to his unrivalled application in training he quickly earned himself a regular first-team place and became one of the best defensive headers in the Bundesliga. Rüssmann played at centre back in the unforgettable Schalke team that in 1972 won the DFB Cup and only lost out to Bayern Munich in the race for the league title on the final day of the season.
His involvement in the Bundesliga scandal, when Schalke deliberately lost 1-0 at home to Arminia Bielefeld on 17 April 1971, delayed his international call-up for several years. He eventually made his Germany debut in a 2-1 win in Yugoslavia on 30 April 1977. Altogether he made 20 appearances for his country, scoring one goal, and played at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.
In this period he was an indispensable member of the Schalke team, making 134 Bundesliga appearances in a row from 15 January 1977 to 29 November 1980, a club record that stands to this day. It would have been even more had the Royal Blues not been forced to sell him to Borussia Dortmund for financial reasons in December 1980. After ending his career, which included 304 Bundesliga appearances (30 goals), 42 DFB Cup appearances (9 goals) und 19 European appearances (2 goals) for the Royal Blues, Rüssmann returned to Schalke for several months in 1987 as general manager, a position he later held at Borussia Mönchengladbach (1990-1998) and VfB Stuttgart (2001-2002).
Eventually he was forced to focus on his battle against cancer. Although the disease increasingly took hold of him in recent months, he never lost his courage. And Rüssmann could always be sure of the affection of the Schalke fans, who in 1999 voted him into their team of the century. On 2 May he received a final ovation from the supporters when he was inducted into the Schalke hall of fame at the VELTINS Arena before the home game against Bayer Leverkusen.
